Posts Tagged ‘scandal’

Why is ESPN ignoring the Jerry Sandusky scandal?

November 6, 2011

I’ve lost all respect for ESPN. I watched SportsCenter most of the morning today and not once was there even a reference to the Jerry Sandusky Penn State molestation scandal. On ESPN’s web page, there’s one AP wire story on it buried along the right side of the page. This is one of the biggest sports stories of all time and ESPN is ignoring it because of money. Yesterday they probably spent 20 seconds on it in between college football highlights. The Grand Jury report speaks for itself.

Kudos to Mike Wise of the Washington Post and others who say that coach Joe Paterno should have some responsibility for not bringing the crime that was reported to him to the attention of the police in 2002.

You have to wonder if ESPN is afraid of a lawsuit. ESPN was sued by former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach for libel and slander after the network reported that Leach mistreated a player. Still, ESPN could just report on the facts of the Sandusky case and make sure to say “allegedly” in the appropriate spots. Otherwise, ESPN is helping to cover up the crimes. This story better be all over “Outside the Lines” next week and on into the future, but to fail to mention it at all a day after it breaks is a travesty, no matter how much they are afraid of a lawsuit. You can’t obsess over tattoos and other minor scandals and then ignore allegations of a prominent football coach sexually assaulting multiple children.

Advertisement

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in College Football, Sports Media | Leave a Comment »

World Cup soccer: bad kicks and worse calls

June 20, 2010

Let me preface this by saying I am by no means a great soccer player. I do think it’s just about the most fun sport I’ve ever played, but I haven’t played in a league since I was 12, played a bit of intramurals in college, and played some pickup games a few years ago.

I don’t have any speed, quickness, dribbling ability or endurance. However, unlike some of the players in the World Cup, I can get a shot on goal.  I know it sounds ridiculous, maybe incredibly naive or arrogant to say that – they’re under great pressure and have people chasing them.

But if I had a clear shot on goal that was within the penalty box, I’m pretty sure that I would get a shot on goal, making the goalie make a save, or at least not miss the goal by a whole lot. Some of these guys are missing the goal by a mile.  They kick it so far above the goal or so far to the right  or the left of it, it’s hard to believe. So, yes, if I had a clear shot with no one covering me, I’d kick it on goal or at least make it respectable.

Second, the call against the U.S. in the last game against Slovenia disallowing Maurice Edu’s apparent winning goal was a terrible call – everybody agrees with that. Let’s hope that that call was just a mistake and not part of some scandal. The ref wouldn’t even tell the players after the game what the call was. If anything, it should have been a penalty kick for the U.S. because two players were being held.  Before you say no, there was a scandal in Italian soccer four years ago. The goal could mean the difference between the U.S. advancing and not advancing.  And how about one of Brazil’s goals today against Cote D’Ivoire? It looked like a possible hand ball, and after the goal, the ref was joking about it with the Brazilian player.

Tags:, , , , ,
Posted in Soccer | Leave a Comment »